“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

“Good night bebe.” Lenka smiled as she blew kisses at me.

I looked at her and smiled till she walked into her house. She still had no idea what had happened that night. To her, her boyfriend was still the sweetest man on earth and he loved her with his whole heart but that was far from the truth. Well it wasn’t, till some two hours ago.

My attention was now divided, worst of all, it wasn’t even equally divided. Wangi had taken up more of my attention since I saw her. I couldn’t even concentrate on what Lenka was saying throughout our dinner. Thank God I did a great job hiding it because I don’t know how I would have explained to her.

As I drove home, I thought about what had happened at the restaurant. I felt a little guilty about the whole thing because I knew I wasn’t being fair to Lenka. She had been there for me and she had stayed with me through thick and thin, we had even talked about our lives together and here I was, considering throwing away a bright future with her because of a woman who had walked out of my life years before, a woman who couldn’t wait for me to get my shit together, a woman who was utterly selfish and couldn’t think of others. Was a running mad abi what?

The loud ring of my phone interrupted my thoughts, Wangi was calling. My sense definitely flew out the window immediately because I didn’t hold back from picking the call with the speed of light.

“Hi Faraji.” Her soft voice said.

“Wangi, how are you?” I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“I’m ok, just got home. You? Are you home now?” She asked me.

“Still on my way. Did you get home safely?” I asked foolishly. If she didn’t get home safely, would I be talking to her on the phone?

“Yes I did, thank you for asking.” She answered.

There was silence for a few seconds. I didn’t know what to say again. I couldn’t make small talk about frivolous things because there were heavy questions on my mind. Questions that I couldn’t ask over the phone, answers that I wanted to get whilst looking into her eyes.

“I just wanted to check if you got home safely.” She finally said.

“Thank you.” I replied.

“Good night.” She said.

“Wait,” I quickly said before she had the chance to hang up.

“Yes?”

“Do you want to have drinks tomorrow evening? I can pick you up after work.” I offered.

I heard my mother’s voice asking if I had lost my mind. I had legit just being feeling guilty five minutes ago, but now, here I was, offering to take her out the next day.

“I’d love to but you don’t have to pick me up. Just tell me where you want us to meet and I’ll come there.” She said.

“Ok then, I’ll text you the venue tomorrow,” I said. “Good night.”

She told me good night and hung up. I was slowly moving from frying pan to fire, thanks to my madness. I knew what I was doing was wrong and would bring me nothing but trouble, but I couldn’t hold myself back. It was happening to me all over again, just like when I was in school. When Wangi was involved, I didn’t have sense or control. I would put her first even when she didn’t ask or require me to and I was doing it again.

My phone rang again as I was getting home. This time it was Derin, my best friend and life of my party, well, after Lenka that is. He had been on my neck to settle down with Lenka for ages meanwhile he was not yet married and wasn’t even considering it. Just imagine, pot calling kettle black.

“My guy!!!!!! Latest groom in town!” He screamed into the phone.

“How far now?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Which one be how far? You propose finish, we no see picture. Abi una no snap picture? Me and Derin don dey wait since make we write epistle for instagram, hashtag Farnka18.” He laughed.

“Wait o, you told Derin about it?” I was alarmed.

Why was I even alarmed? I should have known he will talk. Derin was Derin’s girlfriend who was exactly like him, it’s as if their mothers knew they would be the same so it’s no wonder they bear the same name. Both of them are extra mouthy and cannot keep almost anything to themselves, they must always talk. Now their loud mouths will get me into trouble because Lenka was bound to find out.

Derin and Lenka were good friends and they spent the better part of their friendship talking about Derin and I. How did I know? Yes, you guessed right, Derin reports back to Derin who in turn reports back to me. The wahala now that if Derin knew that I was going to propose to Lenka and it didn’t happen, she was not going to keep quiet about it. She would go singing to Lenka and Lenka will start asking questions.

“Of course I told Dee about it, we tell each other everything.” The idiot answered.

“This guy, are you mad? What if she had told Lenka? Then…” I shouted at him.

“Abeg calm down. She didn’t tell Lenka anything, I’m sure Lenka was still surprised when you popped the question so stop speaking English and send us pictures abeg.”

I contemplated on whether to tell him or not to tell him. I needed to talk to someone about the turmoil going on in my mind but I wasn’t sure if Derin was the person to talk to.

“Guy, are you there? Hello.” His loud voice pierced my ear.

I decided to take my chances and warn him not to talk. Even if Derin was a loud mouth, he’d know better not to discuss a sensitive thing like that with his girlfriend.

“Is Derin there with you?” I asked him.

“Yes Fa’a I’m here. In fact I’ve been listening to you since. Send us pictures now, abi you want us to ask Lenka for the pictures?” Derin spoke up.

Thank goodness I didn’t start spilling the gist, it would have been extremely messy.

“Hi Dee, how are you?” I greeted her.

“I’m ok. Send pictures o, I better get a notification before I come out of the bathroom!” Her voice faded in the background.

She was obviously gone so I had to talk quickly before she got back.

“First of all guy, remove your phone from speaker mode, now!” I said in a small voice.

“Why?” The stubborn goat asked.

“Just remove it.” I insisted.

“I don remove am. What’s up?” He said in a few seconds.

“I want to tell you something, promise me, in fact, swear to me that Derin will not hear about it.”

“Swear ke? For what now? Better say what your problem is, and fast.”

“I’m not saying a word till you swear. I’m very serious.” I answered.

“Guy, what’s the problem?” He asked apprehensively.

“Swear first, on the sacredness of our friendship.” I said.

“Oya oya I swear, talk.” He was getting desperate.

I was about to drop the bomb when I got a notification, one that tore my mind into more pieces.

I’m sorry… I legit just said “This girl’s a bastard” in my mind cos of the suspense 😭😭😭
Kuku kee me… Which kinda wahala is this now? I told myself I’ll not start reading until you’ve written at least 5 episodes… Now here I am… So hungry for more…😭😭😭